Michael Ende was actually pretty miserable about the 1984 movie. He called it a "gigantic melodrama of kitsch, commerce, plush and plastic." That’s a stinging review from the guy who literally invented the world. But for millions of us who grew up watching Bastian Bux duck into a dusty bookstore to escape bullies, the characters of The NeverEnding Story became more than just special effects or ink on a page. They became archetypes of our own childhood anxieties and triumphs.
Look, we have to talk about the horse. Everyone remembers Artax. It’s the scene that scarred a generation, honestly. But if you only know the movie version, you’re missing about half of what makes these figures so hauntingly complex. The book is a meta-fictional labyrinth. The film is a hero's journey. Between those two versions, we find a cast of characters that represent everything from the terrifying void of depression to the reckless power of imagination.
The Boy Who Reads: Bastian Balthazar Bux
Bastian isn't your typical hero. He's "fat" in the book—Ende specifically describes him as a lonely, misunderstood kid with a limp. He isn't the brave warrior; he’s the observer. In the movie, Barret Oliver played him with this wide-eyed, fragile intensity that really captured the vibe of a kid who has lost his mother and feels invisible to his father.
Bastian’s role is unique because he bridges the gap between our world and Fantastica (or Fantasia, depending on which translation you're reading). He isn't just a reader; he’s the creator. When he finally screams "Moonchild!" into the storm, he isn't just naming an Empress. He's accepting the responsibility of existence.
In the second half of the novel—which the first movie completely ignores—Bastian actually becomes a bit of a villain. He uses the AURYN to wish himself into being handsome, strong, and powerful, but every wish costs him a memory of his real life. It’s a brutal look at how power corrupts and how losing your past means losing your soul. If you’ve only seen the 1984 film, you’ve only seen the "hero" version of Bastian. The real character is a cautionary tale about the dangers of living entirely inside your own head.
Atreyu and the Trauma of the Swamps of Sadness
Atreyu is the "Green Skin" warrior, though the movie opted for a more traditional look with Noah Hathaway. He’s the proxy. He does the legwork while Bastian watches. Most people remember Atreyu for his courage, but his real defining trait is his resilience in the face of absolute nihilism.
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Think about the Swamps of Sadness.
Most fantasy stories have a monster in the swamp. The NeverEnding Story has a psychological condition. The swamp doesn't kill you with teeth; it kills you with "the heaviness of sadness." Artax, Atreyu’s horse, sinks because he gives in to the despair. Atreyu survives only because he has a mission. It’s a surprisingly dark metaphor for a "kids' story." It suggests that the only way to survive the void is to keep moving, even when your heart is breaking.
The Luck Dragon: More Than a Giant Dog
Everyone wants a Falkor. He’s the ultimate "deus ex machina" character, literally showing up to save Atreyu when all hope is lost. In the movie, he looks like a giant, flying Golden Retriever. In the book, he’s a "Lion-Dragon" with scales that look like mother-of-pearl and eyes the color of rubies.
Falkor represents the "Luck" element of the story. He doesn't win through brute strength or cleverness; he wins because he’s lucky. "I like you, and I'm a Luck Dragon," is basically his entire personality. But there’s a deeper layer here. Falkor represents the optimism required to combat The Nothing. While the Gmork represents cynical destruction, Falkor represents the inexplicable, often unearned hope that things might just turn out okay. He is the physical manifestation of "vibes," decades before we started using that word.
The Childlike Empress and the Power of Names
She is the center of the universe, but she doesn't rule it. Tami Stronach’s portrayal of the Empress is iconic—that ethereal, shimmering presence in the Ivory Tower.
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The Empress is a weird character because she is neither good nor evil. She just is. She is the spark of imagination. In the lore, she cannot exist without a name, and she cannot name herself. She needs a human from the "outer world" to give her an identity. This is Michael Ende’s way of saying that stories only have power if people engage with them. Without Bastian, the Empress dies. Without the reader, the book is just paper and glue.
The Real Villains: The Nothing and The Gmork
We can't talk about the characters of The NeverEnding Story without talking about the lack of a character. The Nothing.
The Nothing isn't a cloud or a storm. It’s a "blindness." It’s the feeling of looking into a hole and seeing... nothing. Not blackness, just a void. It’s the perfect representation of apathy and the loss of dreams.
Then you have The Gmork. The wolf.
The Gmork is one of the most terrifying villains in cinema history because his motivation is so grounded. He doesn't want to rule the world. He wants to help The Nothing destroy it because "people who have no hopes are easy to control." He’s a mercenary for nihilism. The scene where he explains this to Atreyu in the crumbling ruins is perhaps the most philosophical moment in the entire franchise. He explains that when Fantastican characters enter the human world, they become "lies" and "delusions" that make people miserable. It’s a heavy concept for a PG movie.
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Morla the Ancient One
Morla is a giant turtle who lives in the Swamps of Sadness. She’s allergic to youth and allergic to "caring."
"We don't even care that we don't care," she says.
Morla is the personification of "burnt-out" energy. She has lived so long that nothing matters. She’s the opposite of the Childlike Empress. While the Empress represents the eternal "now" of childhood, Morla represents the crushing weight of too much history. She provides the key to saving the world, but only because she’s too bored to keep it to herself.
How to Explore Fantastica Today
If you grew up with the movie but haven't read the book, you are genuinely missing out on the full scope of these characters. The second half of the book introduces figures like Xayide (the wicked sorceress) and Graograman (the Many-Colored Death), a lion who changes color based on the desert he's in.
To truly understand the depth of this world, here is what you should do:
- Read the original 1979 novel by Michael Ende. Specifically, look for the version printed in two colors (red and green ink). The red text represents the "real world" and the green represents Fantastica. It makes the immersion much more visceral.
- Watch the 1984 film for the aesthetics. Despite Ende's hatred for it, the practical effects by Brian Johnson (who worked on Alien and The Empire Strikes Back) are masterpieces of pre-CGI filmmaking.
- Listen to the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack. It’s not just "The NeverEnding Story" theme song; the synth-heavy score defines the "liminal space" feel of the story.
- Look into the "AURYN" symbolism. The intertwined snakes represent the "Coincidentia Oppositorum"—the union of opposites. It’s a real philosophical concept that suggests you can't have creation without destruction.
The characters of The NeverEnding Story endure because they aren't just fantasy tropes. They are reflections of our internal struggles. We are all Bastian, hiding from a world that demands too much of us. We are all Atreyu, trying to keep our heads above water when things get dark. And if we're lucky, we have a Luck Dragon to catch us when we fall.
The story doesn't end because it's about the act of storytelling itself. As long as there is a "reader" (you), Fantastica survives.